Guelph CVI music students are at it again and this time they’ve won the CBC’s Canadian Music Class Challenge.
The class won in the category called non-live-off-the-floor performance announced on Dec. 13. The national competition had music classes submit their own renditions of songs from a pre-approved list, said in a CBC release.
GCVI vocal and guitar students did a cover of If It Feels Good Do It by Sloan.
The lyrics “if it feels good, do it even if you shouldn't” from the song was the jumping off point to create a cinematic video, said Lane Osborne, GCVI music teacher.
The quirky music video has students breaking some rules in the name of rock-n-roll. They called themselves Cloan in the video.
The class won $1,000 to put toward music equipment. They aren’t sure of the details yet but are considering donating it to a community centre with a music program that needs more funding, said Osborne.
The students pulled long hours filming the video during the school’s after hours, said Osborne.
“So it was just a great lesson in terms of, you know, the sense of delayed gratification. You work hard towards something and then good things can come your way,” she said.
Osborne heard the news the class had won through parents emailing her their congratulations.
What was great about the competition was the students were the focal point of the video and they came up with different ideas to convey the story, said Osborne.
"I am absolutely flabbergasted every single time I watch this video. I am astounded at the quality of the band performance, the audio recording, the acting, and the music video production! Everything about this entry is professional level and I would nominate this video for a video award if I could! Bravo,” said Jasmine Denham, one of the judges for the challenge, in the CBC release.
In the intro to the video a student is shaking a realtor’s hand in front of the school. It’s as though the student bought the school. The students take over with a concert despite the principal James Cako’s book of rules. Cako searched the school high and low and found students who filled his office with balloons.
“And so we somehow managed to get him to come out. And with a couple quick acting lessons, he was good to go and is probably set to win an Academy Award,” said Osborne.
After a night of antics and music the students fell asleep in peculiar spots in GCVI.
The song was recorded at Monastereo with Guelph’s Nik Tjelios.
Alumni Fin Janleigh and Alex Ly helped “refine their understanding of how to film,” with the students, said Osborne.
